"FOR AN INCREDIBLE ON-THE-GO REFERENCE DSS BROWSER (now Deep Sky Browser) IS THE BEST. This app gives you access to the Digital Sky Survey with more than 45,000 celestial objects only a click away… This is a great app for planning a night of observing." - Raymond Shubinski, Astronomy, August 2011. Deep Sky Browser is a tool that allows browsing Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) images of various celestial objects. Deep Sky Browser also shows additional information for the selected object based on the observer's location. Now it also functions as Digital Setting Circles. Just connect it to Astro Devices' Nexus or one of supported encoder interface boxes, do a two star alignment and Deep Sky Browser will show where to move the telescope to locate the selected object. Or use it with Nexus and ServoCAT for full GOTO functionality. Deep Sky Browser is an invaluable tool for observations planning and identifying objects at the eyepiece. The images are loaded from a DSS server and cached automatically. The built-in database of Deep Sky Browser contains in excess of 51,000 objects from popular catalogues: Abell Planetaries, ARP, Caldwell, Collinder, ESO, Herschel, Hickson Compact Groups, Messier, Index Catalogue, King, LBN, Minkowski, Markarian, NGC, Sharpless, Stock, Trumpler and UGC. Object lists can be adjusted to only show objects that have magnitude brighter than the specified magnitude. Image field size can also be adjusted. Deep Sky Browser also displays the current position of the selected object in the sky that is updated in real time. Additional information is also displayed for the selected object: - Rise time - Set time - Transit time - Today's visibility graph - Yearly visibility graph - Page number for Uranometria 2000, 2nd edition - SIMBAD id - surface brightness Proper 'night mode' can be activated during the night observing. *Please note that an Internet connection is required to download DSS images.
Now a useful reference for deep sky viewing
This app was first introduced as "DSS Browser." At that time it was mildly interesting, a little idiosyncratic in its interface, but it was a little unclear as to what its real strength or value was: it didn't do any one thing exceptionally well. Was it a database, DSS image retrieval program, or a scope controller? That has changed, although the interface is still a little idiosyncratic. It has a carefully thought out selection of catalogs, and each catalog is complete. The selection of catalogs is a complex issue: there are so many and with such large overlap. Deep Sky Browser has selected those that will be of greatest utility to the more advanced observer. Inevitably, some users will miss a favorite specialized catalog, such as the Palomar or Terzan globular clusters. Deep Sky Browser will download and save images for each entry. The user can initiate a bulk download for each catalog, but should recognize that gtheir device memory will be easily consumed and exceeded by the larger catalogs. So, it this app a database, DSS image retrieval program, or scope controller? The answer is “yes” to all, but I find it most useful as a large reference database of deep sky objects with the ability download and store associated DSS images.
United StatesIt Leaks! Still!!
I complained about this two years ago with a different device! It hasn't changed! See prior review below - It still will not save data long term. Please fix or tell me what I'm doing wrong! I'm tired of reloading everything! ------------------------------------- This is a handy app for those with a deep sky telescope. Unfortunately, it's not as good as it could or should be. The worst problem is that the downloaded object images don't seem to consistently be saved or stored, but instead are volatile, and many must be downloaded again after a power down/up cycle. There are thousands of deep sky object images available, and downloading them can require lots of time, personal involvement, and bandwidth, so this is quite a problem, especially if you have no internet source available at your telescope location.
United StatesJust what I've been looking for.
This is an intriguing way to evaluate potential observing targets. It has a professional feel to it, and a no-nonsense layout that I appreciate. The NASA website server from which images are downloaded was down when I first tried to connect, which caused some confusion, but the developer was right on the ball, and explained the situation in response to my support contact. I'm very glad I happened to notice this app. I think I'll really find it useful and enjoyable. John
United StatesGreat App!
This is a great app. I really like the ability to bulk download pictures for each catalog. When I am in the field I can pull up the picture ot the object I want to see. There is lots of info for each object and even a reference to find object in Uranometria. The included catalogs provide a wide range of objects. I hope in future releases to see the Abell Galaxy Clusters, Bernard Dark Nebulae, and maybe the PK planetary nebulae catalogs. A 5 star app! Highly recommended
United StatesVery nice app
This is a good app, yes, it does need some work, especially in the downloading of the images. I have emailed the developer and, much to my surprise got a response back in a couple of hours and even replied back to me. That is an encouraging sign. I plan on using this app in the field!!!
United StatesReview so far...
So far the app seems good. A few suggestions though: App should take advantage iPhone multitasking. As it is now, each time you switch out then back in it has to reload. It should go back immediately to where you left off There needs to be a settings for: Ability to make a list or multiple observing lists of images. For ex. If you wanted to observe 15 objects from different catalogues, you should be able make a list of the 15. Then you could click on an image from your list rather than writing down each object on a piece of paper and going in and out of each catalogue to find each object Ability to download batch images at a certain filter setting, like IR. Or even multiple filters
United StatesGood reference, but application lacks polish
The catalogs are complete, but many of the images are old and the application needs some tweaking to support features like autorotate. I suppose it's not a bad value for the price. Users should also note that the images of catalog objects are downloaded from the network server only when they are selected. This makes for a compact app, but it also means the app will grow in size substantially as more objects are viewed and saved locally. iTouch (and iPad users without 3G) located at remote sites cannot use this app to access images of new objects (objects not already downloaded).
United States
Updated to correctly handle the location.
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